Práticas inclusivas no ensino superior : a inclusão de alunos com deficiência no curso de pedagogia, Campus Central da UERN

Abstract

This research was developed in conjunction with the Graduate Program in Education at the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (GPEUFCG), in Research Line 2 - Educational Practices and Diversity. It aimed to investigate the perception of students with disabilities in the Pedagogy course at the Central Campus of the Universidade do Estado Rio Grande do Norte (UERN), regarding inclusion and exclusion practices in the classroom context. The investigation, of a qualitative nature, was based on theoretical and methodological references of special education from the perspective of inclusive education and its legal and normative support, as well as on studies on educational inclusion in higher education. The data were produced through semistructured interviews conducted with six students with disabilities who were studying for a degree in Pedagogy at the Central Campus of UERN, categorized with the support of the qualitative analysis software Atlas.TI and analyzed based on the content analysis technique. The analyses showed that, according to the subjects' perception, there were significant advances in the process of including people with disabilities in the course, as demonstrated by the cases in which some of the teachers showed themselves to be attentive to the specific needs of the students and promoted curricular and methodological adaptations. The creation, by UERN, of a quota policy that made it possible for students to enter the aforementioned course and the creation of a Directorate of Inclusive Policies and Actions (DIPA) were also indicated as inclusive actions. On the other hand, the lack of methodological and curricular flexibility demonstrated by some teachers, the absence of mandatory curricular components on inclusive education and the lack of specific knowledge on how to deal with differences manifested by some teachers were indicated as causes of exclusionary pedagogical actions. It is concluded that the persistence of architectural barriers, insufficient teacher training and the lack of mandatory curricular components on special education contribute to the coexistence of inclusive and exclusionary pedagogical practices, showing that the effectiveness of educational inclusion in higher education depends both on the development of public policies for financing, teacher training and architectural accessibility and on the adherence of teachers and students to inclusive pedagogical practices in the classroom context.